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PTC recommends more help for commuters with special needs

Commuters with special needs may get more help on public transport, if new recommendations by the Public Transport Council (PTC) on making bus and train journeys more accessible are taken up.

The council is proposing, for instance, that bus captains be trained to look out for visually handicapped commuters on their routes, and call out bus service numbers to them when they pull up at the bus stop.

It also suggested developing apps that integrate all public and private transport options door to door for commuters, including those with special needs.

Another recommendation is have apps provide information on rail disruptions to hearing impaired commuters through a video of an avatar signing the information, said PTC.

These were among the 21 recommendations announced yesterday, in the council's second advisory report to improve the public transport experience. The report took in the views of more than 11,000 commuters.

PTC also consulted The Singapore Association for the Deaf and the Singapore Association of the Visually Handicapped.

It also announced yesterday it will expand its Heart Zone trial - currently at Outram Park MRT station - in which the elderly and visually impaired can go to designated areas so hospital staff or other commuters know they will need assistance getting to the nearby Singapore General Hospital.

It said Ng Teng Fong and Tan Tock Seng hospitals will take on the same initiative by the second quarter of this year.